History Main / EyeballPluckingBirds

* ''VideoGame/DiabloI'': In the intro, a closeup shows a crow picking out the eye of a decaying body. While not looking too realistic by today's CGI standards, that was a pretty unpleasant scene at the time of release.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''Webcomic/OzyAndMillie'': A seagull asks Millie if he can [[CarnivoreConfusion eat]] [[https://www.gocomics.com/ozy-and-millie/2022/04/15 her eyeballs]].

** Quoth the Raven, the Death of Rats' talking steed and companion, has a particularly obsession with eyeballs -- according to him, access to the eyes of the recently deceased is the primary reason he's staying in this job. He also tends to become very interested in round, and especially round and shiny, things such as onions, walnuts, and tree ornaments, on the off-chance that they might be eyeballs.
** Blind Io, one of the Disc's gods, used to keep a flock of ravens that brought him news of everything that happened in the world. He dispensed with them following certain unfortunate incidents with his other deific affectation, a cloud of disembodied eyes that float around him at all times.

** ''Series/{{CSI}}'': In season 3's "[[Recap/CSIS3E12GotMurder Got Murder?]]", a case begins with the discovery of an eyeball in a raven's beak. Catherine, Nick & Sara later find the rest of the body in a landfill, where the bird had apparently been feasting.

[[quoteright:250:[[Creator/ECComics https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/carrion_death_tales_from_the_crypt_8.jpg]]]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS13E16WeekendAtBurnsies Weekend At Burnsies]]", Homer briefly becomes the leader of a flock of crows. However, when he orders them to drop Maggie (who they were trying to carry away), they turn on him and attack his eyes in particular, making an attempt to get his "sweet eye juices" according to Dr. Hibbert.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': In [[Recap/SouthParkS1E8StarvinMarvin "Starvin Marvin"]], one of the mutant turkeys pull out Kenny's eyeball after a flock of them kill him.

* ''ComicBook/TheSandman'': Following a violent battle between supernatural entities, Matthew discusses with other ravens just why they always eat the eyeballs first.

* In the Grimm Brothers' version of Literature/{{Cinderella}} ("Aschenputtel"), the birds from Cinderella's tree pluck out her stepsisters' eyes. [[{{Disneyfication}} Obviously, this tends to be left out of modern adaptations.]]

* ''Film/ISpitOnYourGrave'': In the 2010 version, Jennifer ties one of her attackers to a tree, smears fish guts on his face, and forces his eyes open with fish hooks, leaving him helpless as crows eat his eyes out.
* ''[[Film/Opera1987 Opera (1987)]]'': The murderer kills a few of the production's trained ravens early in the film. His identity is ultimately revealed when the surviving birds are let loose in the theater and recognize their attacker, complete with a close-up of one raven pecking out and eating the killer's eye.
* ''Film/ThePassionOfTheChrist'': the impenitent thief laughs at the idea of being redeemed by Jesus while standing on a cross and being clearly close to death. A few seconds later, a raven lands on the beam supporting his right arm. As the thief slowly turns his head towards the raven, the bird immediately [[EyeScream pecks his right eye several times]], despite a Roman soldier's best efforts to shoo it away.
* ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest'': The film opens up at a [[HellholePrison Turkish prison]] where prisoners in cages are shown having their eyes pecked out by hungry crows. Naturally, Captain Jack Sparrow is escaping from that same prison, but luckily, he escapes with both his eyes, and a picture of the key to the titular {{MacGuffin}}.
* ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'': The film begins with one of the [[spoiler:decoy]] suicide squad members killing a bird by crushing it. When the character dies much later, [[{{Irony}} the same type of bird plucks his eye out and consumes it]].

* ''VideoGame/DarksidersII'': Just before meeting [[HornyDevils Lilith]] in the Black Stone fortress, Death is ambushed by a demon and [[OneHitKill effortlessly kills it with a single swing of Harvester]]. Shortly after, Death's crow Dust lands on the skull of the demon and plucks out one of its eyeballs, much to Death's annoyance ([[SarcasmMode "Thanks for the warning!"]]).

It's a well-established fact-- in art and fiction, anyway-- that corpses are guaranteed to attract [[CreepyCrows crows, ravens,]] and [[CirclingVultures vultures]]. Generally, the mere sight of these birds, even if there's no dead body present, is a sure sign that something ''really'' bad is about to happen.

[[quoteright:250:[[ComicBook/ECComics https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/carrion_death_tales_from_the_crypt_8.jpg]]]]

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/carrion_death_tales_from_the_crypt_8.jpg]]

* ''VideoGame/MysterCaseFiles'': {{Implied}} in ''Return to Ravenhearst'', one of the four eyes needed for a puzzle is found in a raven's nest.

* ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'': in the intro to the mission "The Korinto-Kai," crazed Yakuza boss [[TheWonka Daimon Kiyota]] regales players with a bizarre story about a crow pecking at the face of a depressed corpse hanging from a gibbet, offering to change the dead man's outlook perspective in exchange for "sweet jelly." And because a broken neck can only nod, the crow eats "all of the sweet jelly out of the swinging stiff's skull-windows."

* ''VideoGame/DiabloI'': In the intro, a close up shows a crow picking out the eye of a decaying body. While not looking too realistic by today's CGI standards, that was a pretty unpleasant scene at the time of release.
* ''VideoGame/DarksidersII'': Just before meeting [[HornyDevils Lilith]] in the Black Stone fortress, Death is ambushed by a demon and [[OneHitKill effortlessly kills it with a single swing of Harvester]]. Shortly after, Death's crow Dust lands on the skull of the demon and plucks out one of its eyeballs, much to Death's annoyance ([[SarcasmMode "Thanks for the warning!"]]).

** ''Videogame/GodOfWarIII'': The teaser trailer "Fear nothing" begins with a raven scavenging the corpse of an unnamed human. Just before Kratos drives the bird off, it plucks out the remaining eyeball and eats it whole.

** ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': In the Cold Open of season 5's "[[Recap/CSINYS05E16 No Good Deed]]", Mac and Stella are having coffee at a street cafe, when something suddenly plops into her cup. They look up & see a vulture flying over, and Mac begins to snicker as Stella expresses disgust. His expression instantly changes when she shows him a human eyeball floating in her coffee. The team follow CirclingVultures to the rooftop of the man's apartment building and find most of his remains buried in a garden there, along with more vultures enjoying a free meal.

Some writers take it a step further. One way to heighten the tension before or after a battle scene is to show these animals feasting on the [[CorpseLand corpses of the fallen]]. But there's always one part of the human body they will always pluck out first...

* ''ComicBook/BeastsOfBurden'': In "Hunters and Gatherers", the Wise Dogs manage to kill a huge reptilian monster known as a Windslither. As they examine the body, a flock of crows descends, picks out its remaining eye, and fly away with it. In this case, it's not because they want to ''eat'' it, but because the eye of a Windslither is [[EyeOfNewt a rare magical artifact]]. At the end of the story, the crows present the eye as an offering to the rat clan beneath the town, [[spoiler:and they later use the eye to transform one of their own into a monstrous rat ogre.]]
* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', following a violent battle between supernatural entities, Matthew discusses with other ravens just why they always eat the eyeballs first.

[[folder:Film-Animated]]
* An interesting variant occurs in ''WesternAnimation/WereBackADinosaursStory''. The main villain, [[BigBad Professor Screweyes]], has a screw in the place of his left eye. In the end he is covered by crows who [[EatenAlive eat him]] and then disperse. Then we get a closeup of the screw as a final crow snaps it up and flies away.

[[folder:Film-LiveAction]]

* In the 2010 version of ''Film/ISpitOnYourGrave'', Jennifer ties one of her attackers to a tree, smears fish guts on his face, and forces his eyes open with fish hooks, leaving him helpless as crows eat his eyes out.

* Hitchcock's thriller ''Film/TheBirds'' includes a scene of a victim having his eye pecked out by a flock of said animals.
* ''Film/ThePassionOfTheChrist'': the impenitent thief laughs at the idea of being redeemed by Jesus while standing on a cross and being clearly close to death. A few seconds later, a raven lands on the beam supporting his right arm. As the thief slowly turns his head towards the raven, the bird immediately [[EyeScream pecks his right eye several times]], despite a Roman soldier's best efforts to shoo it away.

** ''Series/{{CSI}}'': In season 3's "Got Murder," a case begins with the discovery of an eyeball in a raven's beak. Catherine, Nick & Sara later find the rest of the body in a landfill, where the bird had apparently been feasting.

** ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': In the Cold Open of season 5's "No Good Deed," Mac & Stella are having coffee at a street cafe, when something suddenly plops into her cup. They look up & see a vulture flying over, and Mac begins to snicker as Stella expresses disgust. His expression instantly changes when she shows him a human eyeball floating in her coffee. The team follow CirclingVultures to the rooftop of the man's apartment building and find most of his remains buried in a garden there, along with more vultures enjoying a free meal.

* ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'': A swallow named Royal owned by Pappy [=McPoyle=] pokes out Liam’s eye at his wedding. The same bird also gouges out The Lawyer’s eye.
* ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt'': The episode [[Recap/TalesFromTheCryptS3E2CarrionDeath "Carrion Death"]], like the Creator/ECComics story it was based on, focuses on a fugitive attempting to flee through a desert while handcuffed to a dead man. Both the television and comic versions of the story end with vultures descending on the corpse and the fugitive, who is [[EatenAlive still alive]] when they [[EyeScream rip out his eyeball]].

* Francois Villon's ''Balade des Pendus'' (written as a [[spoiler:successful]] plea for clemency as Villon himself was awaiting execution at the time) explicitly mentions birds eating the eyes of the dying and dead.

[[folder:TabletopGames]]

* ImpliedTrope in ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'', where Carrion Crows commonly drop items that are labeled "Pebbles", but whose graphic strongly resembles petrified eyeballs.

* ''VideoGame/DarksidersII'': just before meeting [[HornyDevils Lilith]] in the Black Stone fortress, Death is ambushed by a demon and [[OneHitKill effortlessy kills it with a single swing of Harvester]]. Shortly after, Death's crow Dust lands on the skull of the demon and plucks out one of its eyeballs, much to Death's annoyance ([[SarcasmMode "Thanks for the warning!"]]).

* {{Implied}} in the VideoGame/MysterCaseFiles game ''Return to Ravenhearst'', one of the four eyes needed for a puzzle is found in a raven's nest.

[[folder:WebOriginal]]
* In ''WebVideo/TrueFacts About The Owl'', [=ZeFrank=] tells a (non-existent) German fairy tale in which an owl rips a girls face off and eats her eyeballs.
-->". . . and then the owl hooted."

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode [[Recap/SouthParkS1E8StarvinMarvin "Starvin Marvin"]], one of the mutant turkeys pull out Kenny's eyeball after a flock of them kill him.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode ?Starvin Marvin?, one of the mutant turkeys pull out Kenny?s eyeball after a flock of them kill him.

* ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'': A swallow named Royal owned by Pappy McPoyle pokes out Liam’s eye at his wedding. The same bird also gouges out The Lawyer’s eye.

* ''LiveActionTelevision/TalesFromTheCrypt'': The episode [[Recap/TalesFromTheCryptS3E2CarrionDeath "Carrion Death"]], like the Creator/ECComics story it was based on, focuses on a fugitive attempting to flee through a desert while handcuffed to a dead man. Both the television and comic versions of the story end with vultures descending on the corpse and the fugitive, who is [[EatenAlive still alive]] when they [[EyeScream rip out his eyeball]].